After the ISPO tradeshow, being stuck inside underneath florescent light with the off-gassing of new product vapor, Will and Becca were lucky enough to be able to spend a few days in the BEAUTIFUL Valle de Aran in the Spanish Pyrenees at the 3rd annual Concentracion de Splitboard! The weather was perfect and the snow was soft and light and we were in total La La Land. There were about 25 splitters from Spain, Denmark, Italy, and France, and we had a SUPER time hanging out with everyone while brushing up on our Spanish skills.
A huge THANK YOU to Gaiur Guides, Javi and Nelson (the flame!) for showing us around, keeping us well-fed, and putting on the split fest.
Enjoy the pics below taken by riders Elena, Thomas, and Carlos.
We’ve redesigned our Dynafit adapters for the ’09/’10 season. This system allows hard booters to drop 340 g (3/4 lb) off their feet while touring – and increases edging power. The toe pieces can be used in a releasable mode for increased safety in avalanche areas, or a locked mode for maximum security. Uses only existing splitboard inserts – no drilling required!
The new adapters are designed around the smaller Dynafit TLT Speed toe pieces (142 g/piece). These adapters are thicker, which allows us to eliminate the stainless steel inserts used in past models:
The toe piece adapters weigh 32 g/piece (49 g/piece with all hardware)
Our new heel adapters are also thicker for this year to eliminate the stainless inserts, and adjust in twice as many increments as last year:
The heel adapters weigh 32 g/piece (37g/piece with all hardware)
The adapter kit retails for $65.
Dynafit TLT speed toe pieces are available for $164/pair, shown here on the adapter.
Contact your local Spark R&D dealer or visit our online store to purchase.
Live in Boulder? Like free beer? Wanna watch shred flix, listen to some live tunes and win some gear while supporting a worthy cause? Join our friends from Blacksmith Adventure for a fundraiser for the Kyrgyzstan Plan. Click below for more info.
More on the Kyrgyzstan Plan:
2010 PLANS UNVEILED BY MEMBERS OF THE KYRGYZSTAN PLAN
BOULDER, COLORADO (Fall 2009) – Inspired by the success of last winter’s inaugural expedition, the crew behind the grassroots economic development project, The Kyrgyzstan Plan, have proudly unveiled plans for their follow up expedition in 2010. Lending their vision, expertise and efforts to the initiation of a lodge-stay/ski touring program in Central Asia’s Tien Shan Mountains, the team aspires to provide families associated with Kyrgyzstan’s community based ecotourism network with a viable source of income during the winter season.
The project, founded in 2008 by Colorado native, Ryan Koupal, 28, seeks to take advantage of the country’s rapidly developing tourism industry and stabilizing economic and political environments. Representing the project on the local level are Mrs. Anar Orozobaeva with the Kyrgyzstan Community Based Tourism Association and Mr. Zarilbek Nyshan Ullu of the Kyrgyz Tour Service.
Efforts thus far have largely involved the pro-bono publicization of the geographically important and stunningly beautiful country of Kyrgyzstan as a ski and winter tourism destination. Working with Ellis Smith of Blacksmith Productions, Koupal has released a 6-minute cut to drive home the project’s relevance, importance and vast potential for success. The cut, available on the project website www.thekyrgyzstanplan.com, tells of Koupal and Smith’s unique pursuit to tell the story of Kyrgyzstan’s developing winter tourism industry. The full documentary is scheduled for international release in the fall of 2010.
Goals for the upcoming expedition (Jan 20 departure) are to wrap up filmwork and lay the groundwork for actual program implementation in the winter of 2010-11. During their 3-month stay, the team will scout, plot and map the mountain terrain proximal to a handful of selected mountain villages, establish relationships with local mountaineering guides and aspiring ski guides, and introduce a comprehensive curriculum focused on avalanche awareness and technical skills. The project’s local representatives will assist in the establishment and management of community relations, and they will also help families apply their hospitality trainings to the new wintertime lodge-stay style of programming.
The Kyrgyzstan Plan development initiative and film project has been featured in Skiing magazine (Jan 09) and is slated for a feature story in the Amersterdam-based Reload magazine in 2010. The project has received support through in-kind product contributions from BCA, Flylow Gear, Zeal Optics, NEMO Equipment, 22 Designs, Spark R&D, Osprey, Prior Snowboards and Raw Revolution.
Additional sponsorships and financial contributions are needed beyond 2010 to sustain the efforts of our local representatives and team members. To request additional information or pledge your support or assistance, please contact project founder, Ryan Koupal: ryanjosephk@gmail.com.
Wend magazine is based in Portland Oregon and covers pretty much everything that’s cool (including splitboarding this month). Known for engaging writing and vibrant photography, Wend has been around for four years and is going strong. Just announced this month, their digital editions will be available for free from their website to those who register (which is free and instant). Check it out!
Thanks for stopping by the Spark R&D blog, see ya on the skin track!
Our friend Josh Dirksen sent us an email about the 3rd annual Dirksen Derby coming up in about a month. From years past it looks really fun, how could a “snowboard rally race” not be that way? New for this year is a splitboard division, results will combine time on the way up and on the way down. If you’re in the area be sure to check it out!
We are proud to be involved with ‘Deeper’ and are super pumped to see what comes about next year!
Congratulations to Jeremy and the new Jones Snowboards company. In celebration we whipped up a pair of our new Fuse dressed in appropriate duds.. check out more of Jones here.
PS.. yes, the FUSE are coming!! We have crampons in the store ; )
Yes, you read correctly.. we have a whole batch of Black, Red, and a few Green crampons ready to ship. run right over to the store and buy some.. tell ur friends and grandparents. For those of you that tried to order them lately, sorry for the holdup – we had to tool up our own wires and blocks.
In other news, we also have a new binding high-back color.. Yellow! Free yourself from the all to usual black and express your inner technicolor fascination. Currently we are putting these highbacks on our black and red baseplates.. they are in the store as well, but here’s a couple shots (click em to see a larger one):
At Spark R&D we are pretty excited to know you fellow backcountry riders are digging our bindings, and we really appreciate the positive feedback we get from riders around the world. Recenlty the Spark R&D Ignition II bindings found their way into the hands of a few more big names in the snowboarding world.. the likes of Travis Rice and Tom Burt! Needless to say we are pretty stoked!
Click any of the pics below for a larger view.
Travis Rice
To see a little more on Travis, check out this link to Lib Tech’s “Ripper” page.. some cool pictures and an interview about the making of ‘That’s It, That’s All.
Tom Burt
To check out Tom and his new splitboard model in the works, check out his Blog.
In other hot news, Spark aficionado Jeremy Jones and crew are getting into a pretty epic splitboarding adventure:
After convincing the bank we are indeed responsible adults.. it became time to put a workhorse in place here at Spark. Up to bat is one used Haas VF-3 20 hp Vertical Milling Machine! Even though it came to the door two days early.. some quick phone calls and rallied crew got Betty in her new resting spot without much trouble. Check out the vid:
Coming up for air a bit after a few crazy weeks, thought I’d post some pics from Scrubfest last month. Larger versions are available on our Flickr site. This was the fifth Scrubfest, put on every year in the Togwotee Pass area in Wyoming by all around awesome dude Jeramie Prine. Jeramie even got up at 5:30 am on sunday to tow my dead subaru to Dubois! Great to see some old friends, and meet some new ones. If you get the chance join us for the fun next year! The terrain and access there is amazing, you owe it to yourselft to do some riding in the neighborhood.
Fifth tracks down Albright Peak on a bluebird pow day! It’s a 4200′ descent.
Big big thanks to Jeramie for putting on scrubfest, we’ll see you there next year!
Our fundraiser earlier this month for the Friends of the Avalanche center was a success with over 200 Local shredders showing up to drink beer and watch the Rome team movie “No Correct Way”. Avalanche forecaster Doug Chabot was among those who came down to partake in the festivities and watch some knuckledraggers do their thing. Big thanks to Joe and Carrie, the owners of the Pour House, for donating two kegs to the cause and not getting upset that we drank three. Also thanks to Paul Maravetz and Ron Faverty from Rome for donating the movie, and Dave Granger and Katya Numbers from the Big Sky Youth Empowerment Project for their help throwing the party. When it was all said and done we donated $1000 to the friends of the avalanche center. Big thanks to everyone who showed up to support the cause of backcountry safety!
Toast to Backcountry Safety
Steve models the North Face onesy that was auctioned off
Dave Granger from BYEP, Ron Johnson from the Avalanche Center and Will Ritter from Spark R&D
The folks at Rome were kind enough to let us show their team movie “No Correct Way” as a fundraiser for the friends of the avalanche center. So come on down to the Pour House on Wednesday night, watch some shredding and enjoy a few beers to help keep us safe out there in the BC. What a great way to do the right thing! Click here to check out the teaser.
Yes, you read correctly.. we have a whole batch of Black, Red, and a few Green crampons ready to ship. run right over to the store and buy some.. tell ur friends and grandparents. For those of you that tried to order them lately, sorry for the holdup – we had to tool up our own wires and blocks.
